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'Felt like retirement present': UAE expat wins car in KT raffle after 33 years of work
The final two winners of the diamond necklace raffle also collected their prizes during the ceremony
- PUBLISHED: Wed 5 Aug 2026, 8:31 PM
An Indian expat who retired after 33 years of service earlier this year became the proud winner of a Lynk & Co. car in a Khaleej Times raffle draw.
Sharjah resident Usha Alex said that she and her husband were initially skeptical when they received a call from the CEO of Khaleej Times, Charles Yardley, informing them that they had won.
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“My husband actually asked him to call back from the landline because we thought it was a scam,” she chuckled. “But once we understood that it was the real thing, we were overjoyed. It felt like a nice retirement present for me.”
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The mother-of-two arrived at the KT headquarters on Latifa bint Hamdan Street on Wednesday along with her husband and two sons. The family received the key for their car from senior Khaleej Times and Galadari officials before posing for photographs inside their new white-colored Lynk & Co.
The family have been readers of the newspapers since the 1980s. “When I first arrived in Dubai as a new bride in 1991, my husband was already a KT subscriber,” said Usha. “My children grew up reading it.”
Usha was the grand prize winner of the KT subscription raffle to win a Lynk & Co car. All print subscribers were automatically entered into the draw. In addition to this, a total of six diamond necklaces were given away in partnership with Joy Alukkas to lucky winners each month.
Other winners
Usha was not the only winner celebrated on Wednesday. The final two winners of the diamond necklace raffle also collected their prizes during the ceremony.
Abu Dhabi-based Rajesh Jayaraman took time off work and drove to Dubai with his wife Gayathri and son Nishant to collect the necklace. A KT subscriber for over 15 years, Rajesh said that this was the first time he had won a gift because of his subscription.
“We knew that there was a raffle for subscribers, but we didn’t really pay attention to it because we never imagined we would win,” he said.
Dubai resident Mannan Kapasi said that he was overjoyed to win the diamond necklace. “I am going to gift it to my wife,” he said. “She was very excited when I told her that we had won. Unfortunately, she is travelling so she wasn’t able to join me here today.”
Mannan said that he has been reading KT since 1989.
“When I first came to the UAE, I was living with my brother and he was a KT subscriber,” he said. “So I have been reading the newspaper since then. When I moved into my own house in 2001, I also began subscribing. This is the first time I have ever won a raffle draw and I am so glad that I won it through KT.”
The KT print annual subscription package is priced at Dh549. In return, subscribers get vouchers worth Dh724 from brand partners Baskin-Robbins, Nando’s, Carluccio’s, Lavash, Choithrams and Joy Alukkas. It also offers subscribers 25 per cent off Khaleej Times B2C events, where applicable.
